


Tale of Two Shepards

by i_like_to_touch_butts



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, established garrus/femshep, slow build kaidan/mshep
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6455941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_like_to_touch_butts/pseuds/i_like_to_touch_butts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Shepard siblings have been through a lot together even from childhood. This is the story of how they save the galaxy.</p><p>ON HAITUS</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tale of Two Shepards

**Author's Note:**

> When I started playing Mass Effect my girlfriend and I decided it would be a fun and interesting idea if our Shepard's were siblings. Thus this fanfiction which is a retelling of ME3 was born. It's going to mostly follow the canon timeline with some flashback chapters added in later.

Commander Jake Shepard was homesick. However he wasn’t homesick for earth, where he currently was locked away in a detention center where he and his sister had been shoved after they were ‘relieved of duty’. Earth made him anxious instead of nostalgic and the close quarters weren’t helping any. It felt like all he had done with the alliance was suddenly going to be pulled away and he would revert back to a young scared teen stealing food so he and his sister could survive. He always hated that he had to steal food to survive, it made him feel dirty but if it was between stealing and letting his little sister die he would steal the food any day. No, earth was never his home. Space was where he belonged, where they both belonged. Back on the Normandy with Garrus and Liara and Tali and…Kaidan. He stopped himself there. He hadn’t thought about Kaidan since after Horizon. He’d made some pretty bad life choices the night after Horizon while they were on Omega. He distracted himself by going about his normal morning routine, though he may not officially be military anymore he still followed the same one he’d used on the Normandy.

He’d wake up every morning at six sharp to do a basic workout. Pushups, sit ups and some squats thrown in just for fun. Then shower, which he had learned to do in under 5 minutes. Though, now that he had time to waste he’d started taking longer hotter showers and using conditioner in his shockingly red hair. (Which he could see the dark roots of his natural hair coming through and knew it was time to dye it again.) Sometimes he didn’t know why he and his sister bothered to dye their hair, nobody was fooled into thinking it was their natural color what with their Hispanic roots. After his shower he made tea for himself, It was silly to think so but this was the most calming part of the routine. Charlie would be waking up soon, he’d memorized her routine as well. His little sister who had followed him into the Alliance. At first he’d been terrified even if he knew she could do it, her biotics just as powerful as his. She could kick anyone’s ass including his own all while wearing pink armor. (He personally preferred purple.) He was terrified of her joining because he didn’t want to lose the only family he had ever known but they had made it through a lot since then. Akuze where they were the only survivors from their whole squad, Ilos which they said was unreachable, and even the collector home world. He takes his tea and sits down by the large window.

Now all he was doing was sitting around wasting time reading ancient romance novels and getting fat. (Not fat, husky. It was a survival instinct after all the years of starving is what he’d say when he was defensive about it.) And he hated it, he hated the peace of it. He hated not knowing what was actually going on outside of what James would tell them. And knowing that one day the reapers would come and the council planned on doing nothing. And he hates being locked away. He looks out the window heaving a sigh and catching a glimpse of his own reflection, he hated when that happened. He’d had a boyfriend once who had told him in his breakup speech that his nose was too crooked and that his best feature was his ‘striking’ green eyes. (And his ass but that he wasn’t going to disagree with.) He hadn’t had a boyfriend or even thought about anyone romantically since meeting Kaidan. His heart gave a lurch when he finally let himself think about it. He’d chosen him every chance he had been given, even when it hurt, like Virmire. Sure he’d had plenty of people make passes at him, it came along with being sort of famous. None of them interested him at all. The Lieutenant, Vega, maybe he could make a go at it with him. He was certainly handsome and seemed pleasant enough. But he knows it could never work out, he could never think about actually being with him. Kaidan Alenko had ruined him.

“Good morning brother, moping again?” Charlie says as she steps into the room pouring herself some overwhelmingly strong black sludge she calls coffee. Over the years he’d learned how to make it strong enough for her. She has her own wild red hair already pulled into its signature bun.

“I’m not moping, Char.” He says heaving a great sigh. “I just miss my fish.” He says giving her a small sad smile once she takes the seat right next to him. She gives him a knowing look.

“The fish are the only things you miss?” She says taking a drink of her coffee. It’s so strong that at this distance it’s all he can smell.

“No, of course not but you know that. I’m homesick and I hate this, being locked up not knowing anything or not much at least.” His says finally gripping his mug tighter. She wrinkles her nose at the mention of the Lieutenant, she wasn’t as fond of him as Jake.

“This is our home technically.” She says with a vague gesture to the view out the window.

“But I don’t feel like we belong here. I miss space. I miss the Normandy and its crew. Hell I even miss Joker.” He says knowing better than to mention Garrus though the two were very close. Garrus may have been his best friend but he was Charlie’s boyfriend. Though he wondered if boyfriend was the right word. They slept together and definitely cared for each other but Charlie was never really good with feelings. She gave his arm a gentle pat, it was slightly awkward.

“Wanna go punch some things?” She asks. Jake also knew she wasn’t very good at words and preferred to show love violently but she cared and that’s what mattered.

“That would be nice.” He says with a more genuine smile. So they did what they usually did to get rid of their pent up energy. (Which they both had a lot of recently.) They trained together most every day. (With an alliance escort of course.) After a short argument over whose music they would listen to that day, Jake won out. So with Asari pop ballads playing they took turns using their biotics to throw things around and occasionally at each other. They trusted each other enough not to actually seriously harm one another. For Jake the thrum of his biotic power was a better morning pick me up than any caffeinated drink. It felt like raw energy, almost like electricity making his arm hair stand on end. He loved his biotics and having the chance to use them made him feel less powerless. Once they had finished their workout both covered in sweat they returned back to their apartment. Not long after Lieutenant Vega arrives. He still refers to them as ‘commander’ and salutes them.

“You know you’re not supposed to use our titles anymore.” Charlie says crossing her arms. Jake honestly didn’t mind it, it made things less depressing.

“Not supposed to salute to you either.” He says with a shrug. Jake offers him a smile, just because he would never have romantic feelings for him didn’t mean that he couldn’t enjoy the view. He was only human and it had been a while.

“Lieutenant.” He says offering a smile. “Need something?” He asks.

“The defense committee needs to see you.” He says. Jake turns to look at his sister.

“Sounds important. Let’s go.” They follow James out into the hallway and Jake instantly notices all the people rushing by. It seems a lot busier than usual.

“What’s going on anyway Vega?” Charlie asks.

“I don’t know ma’am. They just said they needed both of you. Now.” If the situation wasn’t so serious Jake may have laughed. Sometimes he was sure that James referred to his sister as ‘Ma’am’ just to piss her off, she hated it when people called her that. Said it made her feel old. (Though it’s really not hard to piss off Charlie if you know how to pull her strings.) They run into Admiral Anderson and as James salutes him Jake shakes his hand. Jake had always liked Anderson, he kind of felt like the father he never had. He’d never tell the Admiral that however.

“How are you both?” He asks. “Starting to look a little soft.” He says particular to Jake. Jake was well aware of this, especially the thigh area.

“I’m fine.” He lies, not wanting to complain. They could have gotten worse treatment than they had. He tries to keep that in mind. If Anderson can tell he’s lying he doesn’t call him out for it.

“What’s going on anyway?” Charlie demands speeding up a little bit to stay with her brother and the Admiral.

“Admiral Hackett’s mobilizing the fleets. Something big is headed our way.” He says as Jake has to side step someone to keep from running into them.

“Reapers.” He supplies.

“We’re don’t know, not for sure.” Anderson says and both Shepard’s pause.

“What else could it be?” Charlie asks crossing her arms once again, it was her classic defiant pose.

“We should have prepared better, we’re not ready.” Jake says as they both continue to follow the Admiral.

“Tell that to the defense committee.” Anderson says.

“The committee is a waste of damn time unless you plan on talking the reapers into a slow painful death.” Which was how Charlie had always described council meetings feeling like. Jake had to agree with her on that one.

“They’re scared. The both of you know more about this enemy than anyone else. You’ve spoken to one, seen how they harvested us, even blew one up.” Jake didn’t have to be looking at Charlie to see the anger that was coming.

“That’s why you grounded us Anderson?” She asks coming to another stop.

“If anyone else had tried half the shit you two have done they would be court martialed. I trust you both and so does the committee.” Anderson replies seriously.

“We’re soldiers not politicians.” Jake says knowing that with his sister’s hair trigger temper and his never back down attitude they would make horrible politicians.

“I don’t need either of you to play politician. I need you to help us stop the reapers.” Which was something they actually could do, or so Jake hoped. If not all of humanity would be wiped out along with half the galaxy. Shortly after they come to the doors leading to the court room. A woman tells them the committee is expecting them and they continue on.

“Good luck, commanders.” James says and Jake turns to give him a handshake. He hears Kaidan’s voice before he sees him. Jake could swear as cliché as it sounds that his heart skipped a beat when he called out to him.

“Kaidan.” He says turning around and sure enough there he stands looking just as good as he did that day on Horizon. Same dark hair and whiskey colored eyes. He doesn’t know how he should feel angry, hurt, relieved that he’s okay. That only thing he knows is that he is just as in love with him as he had been that day on Horizon when he broke his heart.

“Anderson.” He says, addressing the Admiral.

“How’d it go Major?” Anderson asks and Jake moves to stand closer to him beside Charlie. He doesn’t look at her even though he knows what’s going through her mind. She’s pissed because she had to deal with Jake during the Horizon aftermath. It wasn’t a good time for either of them. Jake doesn’t catch Kaidan’s response but is fixed on his new title.

“Major?” He asks more to Kaidan than Anderson.

“Hadn’t you heard?” The Admiral asks him.

“No.” He says and then pauses. “I’m a bit out of the loop these days.” He finishes lamely.

“Didn’t mean to keep you out of the loop.” Kaidan says and then Jake can’t think of an actual reply to that. It’s a good thing Charlie was there.

“It’s alright Major, it’s not like you knew the reapers were coming and didn’t tell us.” She says in her false civil voice. Either he didn’t pick up on it or just wanted to let it be because he didn’t call her out on it. A woman is addressing Anderson telling him that it’s time they went in. The Shepard’s follow behind and Jake just catches the smile Kaidan is giving him. If Kaidan Alenko was coming back into his life to ruin it he was damn well going to let him.

The council greets both of them and the meeting gets underway. Jake takes the lead on asking them what exactly is going on. They both receive datapads and begin combing through the information. They seem to be losing communication with whole colonies, they say that whatever it is it’s ‘incomprehensibly powerful’. Both Jake and his sister already know it’s reapers they don’t need to be filled in on how powerful they are. His sister is the one that speaks up to tell them what they already know. She doesn’t say it kindly either, she nearly spits it at them. There is a brief pause before they ask how they stop them.

“This isn’t about stopping them now. It’s about survival.” Jake says stepping forward, Charlie follows.

“The reapers are more advanced than us in every way, they don’t fear us and they certainly won’t take pity on us.” She says shaking her head.

“There…must be a way.” One of the councilors says.

“We all have to be willing to die to save humanity. Anything less and they’ve won before we’re even started.” She says finally and Jake nods along.

“That’s it? Our plan?” Another councilor asks and Jake starts to back Charlie up.

“Admiral, we’ve lost contact with Luna base.” One of the other officers in the room says.

“The moon. They can’t be that close already.” But they are. The same officer puts up a visual from their UK headquarters. It doesn’t look good.

“What do we do?” A councilor asks sounding lost.

“The only thing we can do right now. We fight or we die.” Jake points towards the vid feeds for emphasis. Then before he can get the council moving the room is torn to pieces. Jake is flung across the room and without the cover from his armor it actually hurts to get thrown around like a rag doll. He’s disoriented briefly then his soldier training kicks in. As he stands he knows he’s going to have a huge bruise.

“Char?” He calls out for his sister. She groans as she pulls herself out from under some rubble. As Anderson moves towards them he hands them each a pistol. Jake doesn’t even question where he may have gotten two pistols so quickly. Jake begins checking the room for survivors as Anderson tries to get Kaidan on the radio. As they step through the broken window Jake is awe stuck for a moment. Earth may not have felt like home but it still didn’t feel good to see it getting torn apart by reapers. Jake and his sister follow after Anderson, dodging the reapers lasers easily enough. Honestly it felt good to be out of the frying pan and into the fire. He’s relieved to hear Kaidan had made it to the Normandy and was even more relived when he made it there himself with Charlie trailing behind just slightly.

As they left earth behind watching as it was ripped apart by reapers they knew that this was the beginning of the end.


End file.
